Bond of Enemies
by 1337kitsune
Summary: "I remember that very first day we met..." "At school? Yes, I remember that as well, you beat me in every subject at first-" "No, it wasn't at school. The first time we met one another I think you believed I was a girl." "...Su...san..." "I hate my real name." Being trapped with no one but the one person you hate most tends to be a rather volatile experience.


**Yeeaahh... It's is now 7 am, I've had three hours sleep and I became obsessed with Fusion Fall. Not a good combination. I've been contemplating this over the past three days, and decided I'd post it, it's kinda inspired by the Fusion Fall story, Keep Your Enemies Closer. So, go read it, it's addcitingly good. Hm, I think that's all. Ah, almost forgot, if you got an idea for this, gimme, I'm almost running blind here on this story. Second, please, if you are a reader of my other stories, don't give up on me. Not just yet, please. So yeah, please read and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Fusion Fall, Dexter's Laboratory, or the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. I do not own the fanfiction story 'Keep Your Enemies Closer'. I do however own Michelle, as she is me. So, please respect all various ownership's and enjoy the story, yeah, typed authors comments at freaking 7 am, on three hours sleep. Forgive the lack of sense.  
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"So... Are you in love with Mandark?" this simple question had been the start to more trouble than Dexter would have ever thought was possible. The first thing it did to cause him trouble was to startle him so badly that he dropped something very heavy, and very important. The sound of it was heard hitting the sleek linoleum floors after the innocent enough sounding question was heard. Well, innocent to all but him, and maybe one other person.

"Wha-!" sputtered the thick Russian accent, which was now even heavier than usual due to his own lack of sleep and nutrition, said startled person happened to be none other than one of the world's greatest and brightest minds of the age and one of mankind's best hopes for defeating the powerful and terrible Lord Fuse. This young teen, was Dexter McPhearson.

The petite and lithe young teen had taken more after his mother than his father, meaning sharp ice-blue eyes and an even sharper wit to match. The two things he was never seen without was his thick glasses and trusty white lab-coat. With these two things, Dexter was always ready for whatever challenge may come his way, that meant he always had some kind of witty, and sometimes cruel, retort to any question or inappropriate comment, no matter what it was.

That ability had seemed to have deserted him for the moment as the utterly shocked redhead had slowly begun to turn around to face the sixteen-year-old girl who had first asked the oh-so offensive question in the first place. You don't need to know too much about her though, her role is little in this story. All you need to know is that she was an old friend of Dexter's and liked to question his personal life and relationships with others. Daily.

She was a sweet enough girl though. Innocent and always kind to those in need of help, she too possessed a quick wit, but tended not to use it as often as the genius due to her over abundance of kindness and consideration of others. She always had her long dark chestnut colored hair tied up into a messy bun that was both functional and cute, cute to her and DeeDee anyways, while her bright emerald green eyes were constantly hidden behind thick pink goggles that doubled as glassed. Dee had gotten her the goggles and Dexter had helped her make glasses with them.

Her innocent smile had always managed to get people on her side and see things her way, no matter the argument. This of course meant Dexter and Mandy had taken a great interest in her, especially when she managed to get Mandark to help with a prototype weapon with none of his trouble or arguing. But, that is another story all together, and our story is about Dexter right now. So, as we were.

"It's a simple and easy enough question Dexter. Are you in love with Mandark?" the young girl repeated carefully and slowly, watching as the young genius, for the first real time since they had met each other, seemed at a lost as to how to respond to such a direct and odd question. It was truly a rare sight to see the redheaded boy completely and utterly stunned and at a lost as for what to say next.

"WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU ASK SUCH A _**STUPID**_ QUESTION!" was Dexter's final response, once he had gotten his voice back after the startling question. His Russian lilt had enunciated the yelling in full force, adding an even greater effect that would have scared any of the newer recruits into hiding, but had no effect on the young girl, who was use to such things.

The loud and sudden yell of Dexter's continued to echo and bounce off of the walls for a few more seconds before finally dying down to a quiet silence, a seething redhead left in it's place, along with a smiling girl.

Both of the teens had been, and were, currently working in one of the older, and abandoned, part of Dexter's original laboratory that he had first worked in as a child, so it was now fairly empty of the usual hum of computers and was now filled with a stifling quiet that left the redhead uncomfortable, being used to the whir of working electronics in Dexlabs. The only other time this part of the lab ever saw anyone was when Dexter was here to work on secret weapons on Mandy's orders or when it became home to the stray dysfunctional robot. There were also times when KND operatives visited to deliver any supplies that Dexter might have need of for his current project.

Besides, even if anyone had been around to have heard Dexter's screams of rage, they would have been sure to attribute them to his current, and constant, frustration of new orders for five new prototypes for even stronger weapons. The order had come from Mandy herself, who had temporarily taken over as leader of Dexlabs until the whole Fuse incident could be dealt with, calmly and safely.

The order was a tall one since the last shipment, which had been quite outstanding if you were to take the time to ask him yourself, had been shipped out less than a few weeks ago. The sudden explosion of one of the factories however had set production lines behind, and Mandy had been suspicious that Dexter's new weapons had been leaked to the fusion spawn, hence the new weapon orders.

"It is not a stupid question Dexter! It is a perfectly good and logical inquiry that deserves to be answered as such," the girl had responded without any hesitation or rise in her voice, her temper had been controlled and perfect, and her emotions were safely locked away. She could not, however, help but let out a small giggle as Dexter seemed stuck on words at her response, for the second time in that day.

After a few seconds of awkward silence a weary, tired and frustrated sigh finally escaped the young teen's lips before he answered the question in a bored and monotone sounding voice. His Russian lilt had become almost inaudible due to his exhaustion, both mental and physical.

"No Michelle. No. I am not in love, nor will I ever be in love, with-"

"With who?"

"GAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" another scream was torn from the redhead's lips as he whirled around to come face-to-face to his intellectual counterpart. His Russian accent had come back in full force and was as heavy as usual as he dramatically, and angrily, pointed (and slightly glared I should add) at the elder teen who had just popped up from behind the now startled, and even more frustrated, Dexter.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," the girl who Dexter had addressed as Michelle muttered, smiling slightly while the two had a pointless argument over sneaking up on people.

The young girl simple watched the two's reactions, taking note how she was ignored thoroughly and completely after they had seen the other. It was slightly comical to see how obsessed the two were with each other, fighting over something as simple as sneaking up on people, even if it only began as a scientific race that had been going on since they were children. Dexter finally got an answer on why the elder teen was here, once he had won their argument over sneaking up on people of course.

"Well, I am currently down here because DeeDee has sent me down here to, in her words, drag you two out and kick your butts back up to the surface world, since you have been missing for three days. After the first day she had than talked to Mandy, hoping she would know where you were I suppose. Mandy however said nothing on the subject of your whereabouts, the only thing that she said helpful was to inform us of the new weapons you had started work on.

"DeeDee was upset that no one seemed to know where you two had disappeared too, so on the third day, today of course, she finally figured that you two would most likely be hidden away in your old lab and working on the prototypes per Mandy's strict, and irrefutable, orders.

"As such I was immediately sent down here, so as I was coming to search for you two, per DeeDee's tearful requests and numerous death threats, I happened to have heard you yelling in a loud and furious voice a few seconds earlier, so I decided to see what was wrong. That was when I arrived from behind you right before you were about to say you were not, nor will you ever be, in love with someone."

The dark-haired teen had recited his explanation in a clear and monotone voice, as if he had rehearsed what to say while on his way down here. A smug smile was barely contained on the elder's face, not that he was trying very hard to hide it, while the shorter boy of the two silently seethed.

The dark-haired teen was taller than Dexter by a good amount, and his glasses a good deal more sinister-looking, but his intellect was high enough to rival that of the boy genius in front of him. Michelle, who was still being properly ignored, looked to be half-asleep as the teen had finished up his boring and dull monologue.

"First off, Mandark, you could have just said DeeDee sent you down here to get us, and than be done with it," here the girl paused to give the elder teen a stare that made him fidget in his spot a little bit, cheering up the redhead by a good amount, "And, if you really wanna know what Dexter was talking about, he was just about to say that he _wasn't _in love with-" the girl's next few words were quickly and roughly cut off by thick purple latex gloves covering her mouth, the gloves' owner smiling hesitantly before letting out a weak chuckle. The elder of the three, who was addressed as Mandark by the youngest of the three did nothing more than to merely raise an eyebrow in question at the boy's actions while his eyes adorned a look of slight suspicion.

"Right. It is not that important anyways I suppose... Oh, is that the prototype for the new weapon?"

"The answer to your question would be yes!" Michelle replied cheerily after having peeled Dexter's hands off of her mouth with a large grin, "Me and Dexter were just about to add the safety lock on it, so there would be no misfires before mass production stage. Before we could however, well, I asked a simple question that caused him to go crazy-"

"It was not a simple question and I did not go "crazy". Nor did I overreact. My reaction was something that would have been predictable, well, predictable to you, and Mandark I suppose..." Dexter's negative reply seemed to have trailed off as he said Mandark's name, something the two had been quick to pick up on.

"Okay, now I am curious," Mandark finally spoke up while looking back and forth between the two younger teens, one of which was glaring and the other smiling cattily.

"You're wrong Dexter. For you see, my dear sweet, and short, little genius," Dexter's hands had begun and odd twitching movement, as soon as Michelle had stopped and paused for breath, it was almost as if they had wanted to wrap securely, and very tightly, around the girl's throat. A second before the petite scientist could leap at the chance though, Mandark had seen the danger signs and had quickly grabbed the back of the redhead's lab coat and pulled him a few feet back, keeping a firm grip on the collar.

"Thank you Mandark," the brown-haired girl smiled even wider than before while trying to hold back a giggle at the two's reactions to having to be so near the other. Mandark was looking nervous while fidgeting back and forth, all the while trying to avoid the gaze of the girl. Dexter on the other hand had a dark pink dusting of blush on his cheeks and was discreetly trying to loosen his way out of Mandark's surprisingly strong, and tight, grip.

"Now, as I was saying, before you tried to strangle me," a quick glare and guilty cough, "You are wrong in your theory of you not overreacting Dexter. For you see, your reaction was something that most people would in fact _not_ expect from you.

"You see, if the true answer, and your honest answer, had indeed in fact been no, than you would have scoffed in an annoyed and frustrated way, than you would have made a remark about said subject," here Michelle had quickly glanced at Mandark, who had not noticed since he was busy trying to get Dexter to no longer strangle the girl.

"Than you would have said some sort of insult or such thing that would have made me feel stupid, idiotic, pathetic, and all together inferior, thus I would than sit at my workbench and be reduced to silence and hidden tears. Than you would have apologized because, you my friend cannot handle dealing with crying girls, especially me," here the girl smiled once again, Dexter too busy trying yet another escape attempt, and as such was too busy to pay much attention to what she had been saying.

"You know, she does make excellent points on the subjective argument," Mandark murmured in a soft undertone, slightly impressed with the argument she had put forth. All this caused was for him to earn a glare from the now ticked off shorter genius.

"She has no valid points and it is _not_ an argument! _She_ is just trying to believe in something that WILL **NEVER** HAPPEN!" Dexter screeched, although he had not been loud at first, his volume had risen until both Mandark and Michelle had to cover their ears with both hands, especially when he had started screaming the last part and glaring fiercely at both of them.

"Okay, so how did he act when you first asked him the question?"

"He sputtered in disbelief at me for even asking something like that, than he yelled at me for asking a stupid question, than I countered back, than he was at a loss for words again, just as he was calmly denying it, again, you showed up."

"Hm, you are right, the answer was indeed yes, so what _was _the question?" Mandark asked while crossing his arms in thought, Dexter sputtering and yelling at the girl not to say anything while arguing that his answer would have been no, no matter what the two thought.

"Hm, maybe he'll tell you himself soon enough-"

"Ha, as if," both boys unknowingly responded at the same time, uneasy looks passing between the two at the thought of being in sync for once. The whole spectacle just caused the younger to try and hide even more giggles at the sight, before she suddenly realized just how late it was, meaning it was colder than when they had got here.

"Eek!"

"What?" both boys looked over to Michelle, who had suddenly let out a startled noise, only for them to see she was hunched over herself and shivering violently while clutching at the open lab coat she had on.

"It's freezing! Don't you two even feel the cold?"

"No," both responded, Dexter continued their joint explanation and reasoning from there, "we've been working late at night in our own laboratories since we were little kids."

"The cold no longer has such a profound effect on us as it once did," Mandark finished, causing the girl to stare again.

"Riiight... When can I go?" here Michelle looked over to Dexter for her answer, who Mandark had been forced to release when the shorter genius had started shouting, making them both cover their ears in pain and shock. Dexter simply looked over at the weapon they had been working on in slight surprise.

"As soon as we finish putting the safety mechanism on, it would have been done already but someone interrupted us-"

"Hey!"

"Besides, we need to put this on before some stupid idiot comes running through here and sets it off."

"_GIVE IT BACK!"_ a high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the lab, causing the three to look over to see the source of the commotion. Dexter had a look of disbelief and utter shock, the two beside him close enough to hear him mutter something about him coming here so she wouldn't find him and wreck his weapons, like last time.

Needless to say this had caused a great deal of confusion between the other two teens, and all three were even further confused when they saw a laughing and idiotic looking Billy, sidekick to Mandy herself, running past them clutching a bright pink ribbon, one that Mandark and Dexter knew by sight.

So it only made complete sense to everyone when they saw DeeDee come running up from a few feet behind the laughing idiot, skidding across the linoleum floors while screaming profanities and curses that Dexter had no clue DeeDee had even known about.

"Like them?" Michelle asked while pointing at the two, looking much like a child at the moment.

"Yes Michelle, like them," Dexter sighed before sucking in a deep breath. Mandark and Michelle, both seeing what was about to come next, quickly covered their ears and tried to edge away from the angry-looking redhead, **"GET OUT OF MY LA-BOR-A-TORY YOU BUFFONS!" **

The sudden angry screaming and thick, heavy accent of a Russian lilt had caused nothing to happen other than a few clouds of stray dust bunnies to come down from the tops of some of the older pieces of machines and equipment.

"Has he gotten louder than before!" Michelle asked in shock while her eyes were screwed tight at the sudden increase in her friend's yelling, all the while squinting to see what was going on. She was rewarded with the sight of Dexter cursing and screaming while chasing after the two idiots that had broken into the lab somehow, small explosions following as they ran from one side of the lab to the other, to her, it looked like they had done this many times before.

"No, he has always been like this, ever since we were children. He must be really exhausted though..." Mandark trailed off while watching his rival, noticing for the first time the heavy bags under his bloodshot and tired-looking eyes.

"Tired?"

"Yes. His accent is even thicker than usual, I am surprised _you_ can even understand him. Plus he does not usually lose his temper this easily."

"Hm, you're right. That's probably because he's been working on this weapon for three days straight now. With no sleep," the last part was said in almost a whisper so as to be truthful but not incur the older teen's wrath, but the raven-haired teen had picked up on the barely spoken words anyways, most likely since it was something pertaining to his rival.

"What? He hasn't slept in three days?"

"No," Michelle shook her head somewhat sadly, and almost guiltily while walking towards one of the many work-tables scattered throughout the lab, Mandark following slowly at a distance, "I tried to get him to get some rest,but when he said no the first time, I offered to stay up with him, he ended up using sleeping gas on me to knock me out," here Michelle looked slightly bitter as she moved her bangs out of the way before picking up a different wrench, "After I woke up I hid his sleeping spray and only agreed to go to bed if he would too. He would just tell me five more minutes and he would go to bed too. He was always up before me somehow though, so I figured he had been working all night..."

"Heh, he always does that, he has been since we were children. I remember I could not even sneak up on him for a stealth attack since he always stayed up late..." here Michelle looked over to see Mandark had a slight smile on his face and was watching Dexter chase the two noisy intruders around the lab, explosions going off every now and than due to the two's clumsy natures.

"So... Mandark. Are you in love with Dexter?" Michelle asked, watching Mandark's reaction closely. It seemed like the dark-haired youth hadn't at first heard her, and just when she was about to repeat her question, Mandark looked over at her with shock and disbelief. His eyes wide with something that startled her.

"WHY WOULD YOU ASK SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" the teen screamed, his arms windmilling without his knowledge in his denial, adding even more noise and motion to the chaos.

"Well, it's just that you looked so sappy and sound so happy when you talk about him!" Michelle argued back, aware that all three of the running teens were now closely listening in since Mandark's shout of horror.

"I AM NOT SAPPY! I AM MEARLY COMPLIMENTING A RIVAL WORTHY OF MY TIME AND EFFORT!"

"WORTHY RIVAL MY WRENCH, MANDARK! YOU NEVER, EVER, GIVE COMPLIMENTS! TO ANYONE! YOU JUST INSULT THEM AND MAKE THEM FEEL INFERIOUR, AT THE MOST YOU IGNORE THEM!"

"MAYBE IT IS BECAUSE EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET, BESIDES A FEW SPECIAL PEOPLE I HOLD IN HIGH AND CLOSE REGARD, ARE INCOMPITENT MORONS WHO HAVE NO BRAINS WHATSOEVER!"

"YOU'RE LYING TO ME AND YOURSELF, AND YOU KNOW IT MANDARK! I KNOW THE ANSWER IS YES SO JUST ADMIT IT AND ANSWER THE DANG STUPID QUESTION!"

"NO! MY ANSWER IS NOT YES AND FURTHERMORE I WILL NOT ANSWER SUCH A RIDICULOUS-"

"WHO THE HECK USES THE WORD FURTHERMORE! JUST-"

"GIVE ME BACK MY SASH BILLY!"

"NEVER AHA!"

"GET OUT OF LAB! THE BOTH OF YOU!"

That's when it had happened. Dexter and Michelle had been working in one of the oldest parts of the lab, meaning the ceiling and other machines in the place were much more unstable than the more recent labs. This meant that it was more likely to break collapse and cause a cave-in. As it did when all the shouting and explosions had gone on. Everyone went dead silent when they heard the ominous crack from above.

"Почему это случилось со мной!» Dexter's sudden scream in Russian, his accent even heavier than normal, seemed to snap all of them out of whatever trance the split in the ceiling had put them in, "Everyone evacuate this area now! A cave-in could come any second-"

"Speak of the devil," Michelle hissed while throwing a piece of ceiling that had fallen on her foot and hitting Dexter's head with it, her wrench still clasped in her left hand, for as soon as Dexter had spoken large pieces of rock and metal were now falling down, narrowly missing everyone, causing them to scatter and avoid it as best they could. DeeDee, Billy, and Michelle ended up on one side of the room while Mandark and Dexter ended up on another.

"Mother Boarder!" Dexter cursed under his breath as a large piece of rock hit the weapon he had been working on, causing it to fire right towards him and Mandark, since they had never had time to add the safety to it.

The redhead looked over to his rival to see him frozen, in fear or shock it was impossible to tell, so Dexter did the one thing that had first came to genius mind. He grabbed Mandark's ridiculous and over-theatrical cape before jerking them both to the ground, the blast ruffling the shorter boy's hair as it passed overhead.

"Dexter! Mandark!" Dexter heard Michelle and DeeDee's screams as the blast echoed all around them, the sound causing intense ringing in their ears as pieces of metal and rock continued falling, all the while narrowly missing hitting their heads.

Dexter gritted his teeth as the aftershock of the blast sent them flying across the sleek floor, his grip loosening on Mandark's cape before tightening even more than before. Dexter finally felt himself slam into a corner of the room, rough and rusted metal greeting his back harshly before it arched in pain, his glasses flying off his face to land somewhere beside them.

As all this chaos was going on, Dexter looked up as soon as he heard a large creaking and groan of rusted metal, eyes widening when he saw large chunks of broken metal and jagged rock racing towards the two. Dexter finally cursed his luck as the rocks and metal fell around both him and the knocked out Mandark. Dexter's grip on Mandark finally loosened as one of the rocks hit his hunched-over form, a large cracking sound causing Dexter to hack up a fistful of blood before his eyes squeezed tightly and harshly shut.

"Perfect," Dexter hissed in annoyance, his Russian lilt now thicker than it had been in a while, making him almost inaudible before the teen finally blacked out and landed beside Mandark, who had a large bleeding wound to his head that had been caused from a falling rock when Dexter had jerked him to the ground.

"YOU!" both girls turned their furious gazes to Billy, who had an expression on his face similar to that of a dead mans. His expression wasn't too far off though.

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**Well, what did you think? Did I make a good cliffhanger or what? So, drop a review if you feel like it, give me some ideas for this if you want to. Remember though, be kind, I do accept criticism, as it helps improve, but mindless hate comments, aka flames, shall be ignored or brought into view so I can laugh at them and make you feel stupid. That is all, thank you!**


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